Mince Pie Run Report

Paul Efreme

There was, again, a huge turnout for David Evans'
ever-popular event on 8th January 2006. Over 40 riders signed on
at the start. Some members had travelled considerable distances
in order to participate: Ben Teuben (Zündapp 517) and Derrick
Roest (Motom SS48) had come over from Holland, Lindsay Neill (Raleigh
RM5) came down from the West Midlands and Luke Booth (Levis 80)
journeyed up from Hastings. Peter Lawson (Puch) came over from
St Albans, while Alex Lees (Norman Autocycle) and Bob Richardson
(Rudge autocycle) travelled from St Neots. Given some of
these distances, your reporter's journey from Billericay pales into
insignificance.

As usual we were greeted by our host with tea, coffee, biscuits and,
of course, mince pies. The weather was cold but it remained
bright and only rained once during the afternoon. We set off at
around 11:15am with, I gather, one exception: Mark Daniels's Hercules
Corvette 'failed to start' (sorry, fire brigade term...) We took
the outward journey at a gentle pace, except, of course, for young
Mr Gates on his confounded Raleigh RM11. We arrived en
masse at the Shipwreck pub, Shotley, at about 12:15 and tactics
were discussed for the homeward voyage during our lunch pit-stop.

As regular combatants know, the return trip is a tarmac-melting
free-for-all. During a tear-up with Ray Gibb (NSU Quickly) and
Lurch (Kerry Capitano) my Nippy reached blistering speeds of nearly
35mph. We all arrived safely back at the yacht club by 2pm.
Again, our diminutive host indulged us with refreshments, however this
time something a little more warming was on offer. Mr Evans asked
me not to mention that he later flooded the kitchen with washing-up
water, therefore I won't say a word...

Finally, on behalf of all participants, may I thank David Evans for
such a great day out.